


Freak Of The World

by Inu_Sama



Series: TWILIGHT [2]
Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Volturi, F/M, I'm thinking fifties, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Scars, Set Before Canon, Slow To Update, Waaaay before
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 22:23:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17837237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inu_Sama/pseuds/Inu_Sama
Summary: My hindbrain was screaming at me to flee while the two packs were busy with each other but I couldn't make myself move and--and another blond male, this one with longer hair that curled at the tips, looked just as panicked and wary as I was as his gaze kept flicking between me and the Dickhead sent to take me back."Now, just what is going on here, might I ask?"





	Freak Of The World

**Charlie**

I ran as fast as I could, unneeded breaths nothing but harsh puffs of white smoke lapping against my cheeks as I desperately tried to scent out any sign the predator had gotten ahead of me. He  _ hadn't _ .

Yet.

I was going so fast the snow barely had time to register my footprints before I was gone again, still, it didn't matter. Not with  _ him  _ on my tail. 

I leapt over a fallen log, the impact of my feet disintegrating it into a million splinters as I hurtled myself forward out of the forest into a snowy clearing. 

I rolled and tumbled in the snow, my landing less than graceful, but I managed to get back onto my feet just as a mocking laugh rang out in the chilly midday air.

"Oh,  _ Charlie~ _ " Demitri cooed as he stepped casually into my line of sight, a sadistic gleam in his red eyes. I felt my panic and fear shoot up several notches as my hands began to shake and I hunched over more in my crouch to clutch at the snow in the hopes of masking such a weakness. 

It was no use though, if the delighted laugh the dickhead let out was any indication.

"Did you really think you could run from us?" He paused like he actually expected me to answer that, but I only let out a shaky breath that fogged in front of my face, momentarily obscuring my worst nightmare from sight. 

After a moment, the older vampire's grin grew to shark-like proportions as he spread his gloved hands out between us in an almost magnamious pose.

It was one I'd seen the Great Ponce himself use the once or twice I was (unfortunately) in his presence. It wasn't a good look on him, at least Aro had some sort of ethereal grace about him that I guessed came with age. Dimitri didn't pull it off as well.

"Aro's  _ very  _ disappointed in you, Charlie. You know what that will mean for you, don't you?" Demetri cocked his head innocently, a small smug smile twisting his lips as his eyes roamed over the many scars I sported from all the times I'd  _ 'disappointed' _ the King of the Arsewipes. 

I rubbed the column of my throat subconsciously, icy fingers gliding over the raised skin there even as I pushed back the horrible memories.

In my distraction, Dimitri took several leaps forward and I flinched violently at the sudden movement, launching myself (with the help of my gift) clear across the clearing. 

I only just had the presence of mind over the roaring in my ears to land back on my feet in a defensive crouch that was more habit by this point than anything else.

The bastard only smirked wider, clearly enjoying the severe panic attack he was inducing just a little too much. Well, seventy years of Hell would do that to a vampire, I had habits and ingrained responses that I never thought I'd have when just trying to entertain my little sister all those years ago.

My frantic mind - that was almost overwhelmed by the flight or fight response he was happily triggering and the instincts that I was never allowed to grow out of - caught up to the fact that we weren't alone anymore and my fear tripled. 

There were so  _ many  _ of them, at least a dozen, and they were just stopping on the left side of the clearing well away from us.

Were they reinforcements? Did Aro get bored of this game of Cat and Mouse and sent them instead? I was unaware I was muttering a long string of agonised nonsense along the lines of  _ 'no, no, no, please no, I don't want to go back, I can't go back, I only just got away! Seventy years I was stuck there - I cant!' _ , under my breath until the group turned to look at me as one, seemingly having fixated on Dimitri's now annoyed presence.

A blond male stepped forward with placating hands, his liquid gold eyes kind and full of pity as they locked onto my muddied red ones. I hadn't fed since the Escape and that was a few weeks ago, so the colour was almost dulled enough to pass for human brown now. 

I shuffled back another few steps, despite the more than ample distance between us as I cautiously kept an eye on both parties.

My hindbrain was  _ screaming  _ at me to  _ flee  _ while the two packs were busy with each other but I couldn't make myself  _ move  _ and--and another blond male, this one with longer hair that curled at the tips, looked just as panicked and wary as I was as his gaze kept flicking between me and the Dickhead sent to take me back.

"Now, just what is going on here, might I ask?" The first blond vamp asked, tone somewhat guarded despite the friendly veneer. 

I would be too if I just walked in on Volturi Business with so many family members to think about protecting. For a split second, I wanted to be one of them, wondering what it was like to have someone watch my back.

But then Dimetri growled and I flinched back like I'd been struck, my breath hitching at the unpleasantly familiar sound. 

I could feel several pairs of eyes on me and it made my skin crawl but soon they (thankfully) turned their attention back to Dimitri, who was getting angrier by the second at having his fun interrupted.

"This is Volturi Business, Cullen.  _ Leave _ , it doesn't concern you." He snarled, taking a threatening step forward with his teeth bared. My breathing picked up again - a habit I'd never been able to kick despite not needing the oxygen anymore - as the tension in the air thickened. 

I was sure that, if my heart were still beating, it would be pounding out of my chest by now with how stressed I was.

I didn't want them to leave.

I didn't want to be left alone with him again, I wanted...I wanted  _ help _ . A pained whine escaped the depths of my throat before I could stop it, covering my mouth like that would stop the others from hearing it. 

God, I was so pathetic. If I could cry, I probably would be by now. I thanked the stars for small mercies - even if I was betraying my weakness in other obvious ways.

"Aro needs his  _ pet  _ back, after all." Dimitri muttered, shooting me a lustful glance, licking his lips in anticipation and for the first time since escaping, I felt fury rip through me. 

It was so sudden and unbridled that I couldn't stop the hard warning growl that reverberated ominously through the tense silence. 

All heads snapped to me and before I could even think of squirming under the attention, I felt my vision tint red as I was finally consumed by my instincts when they suddenly switched to 'fight' instead of 'flight'.

With a gutteral snarl I launched myself at a surprised Dimitri, forgoing using my gift at first as I felt the overwhelming feral  _ need  _ to rip and tear his flesh  _ myself _ . 

We tumbled and wrestled, my jaws snapping wildly at his face and neck - anywhere I could get close enough as my nails ripped and tore at his clothes. 

With a loud shriek of metal, an arm went flying - whether it was his or mine, I didn't know or care in that moment, I  _ couldn't _ . All I could focus on was the kill. 

When he managed to pin me to the ground one-handed (so it was  _ his  _ arm, not mine then) with his fingers digging into my throat, I used my power to help push him off and as he went flying through the trees I had a moment of clarity, the haze receding from my mind enough for me to think.

A moment was all I needed.

I paid no attention to the gawking vampires as my prey came stumbling out of the forest that was now several trees thinner. 

It felt good, being the predator for once. In all the games of tag Aro made me play, I had gotten so good at running for my life that I forgot what it was like to be powerful. 

I lifted up a hand and clenched my fist like I was grabbing something very tightly. The vampire screamed in pure agony as he was lifted off the snowbank a few meters in the air.

I spared a small, satisfied smile before I brought up my other hand, also in a fist, and promptly wrenched the two apart. 

Dimitri's screams cut off abruptly as his head was ripped from his body by an invisible force and I immediately let my hold on him go. 

His body thudded to the ground, kicking up snow just as my knees buckled and a wave of dizziness hit me.

I really shouldn't have used so much power, it'd been several weeks since I was last able to feed. That was stupid, wasting what little energy I had when there was still a large threat standing gobsmacked just a little ways from where I was now on my hands and knees in the snow.

I was royally fucked. At least I knew they weren't Volturi, with the way Dimitri was acting. Hopefully they wouldn't sell me back to him, I would much rather meet the True Death than spend another minute under that douche canoe's thumb. Maybe that blond with the kind eyes would make it quick. I could only hope.

Nevertheless, before I died, I had to make sure I could drag at least  _ one  _ of my main tormentors down with me. 

With a grunt, I managed to heft myself up on shaky legs, my muscles for once straining to obey me. Only overusing my powers could make me feel so pathetically... _ human _ since the Change.

On Bambi-esque legs, I made my way over to him, stumbling only once before I bent down to pick up the fucker's head by the hair. It was stuck in an expression of pure agony and it was a heady feeling to know _ I _ was the one to put it there. 

I quickly punted the head a few yards away just to be safe - wouldn't want the arsehole to come back somehow.

If this coven let me go, I was going to disappear - hopefully that was a possibility now that their best tracker was gone.

I spared a wary glance at the other vampires who were still watching me like they couldn't believe what just happened - hell, I could hardly believe it myself. Dimitri was one of Aro's favourites for a reason--

I caught the tail end of a whispered conversation between the kind blond from before and a tall boy with copper hair;

"He thinks we're going to kill him, he knows he's not a match for us now that he's weakened--Carlisle, they'll be looking for both him and Dimitri, it's too risky." Copper-head was saying, not even trying to be subtle as he met my partially resigned, partially afraid gaze with a barely noticeable sneer.

But then the actual wording of the sentence snagged in my brain and I felt a stone drop in my stomach. Copper-head was a mind reader - and not like Aro where it had to be through touch, but through proximity? 

Couldn't be eye contact, I hadn't been looking anywhere near him when I came to the depressing but not surprising conclusion of my untimely (to me) demise.

I felt anxiety rise up in me like waves crashing against the shore I knew was a few km out, having skirted the edge of the cliffs in hopes my scent would be lost with the seabreeze - however icy it was. 

It had been then that I knew I wasn't in Italy anymore with its humid sunny weather that I could occasionally feel through the little grate in my cell.

I remembered Alec depriving me of all my senses for what could have been hours or years, could they have moved me then? 

I hadn't known what was what, whether I even still had a body by that point, they could have relocated me. But why? I just thought it was Alec's turn to try to break the King's oldest pet.

It always made me a little smug to know that they simply couldn't - there had even been other 'pets' that were barely out of their third year before they were catatonic, broken.

Actually, that might not be something to be proud of, now that I think about it. It was kind of... sad that not going insane or breaking beyond repair was my greatest accomplishment in the seventy-odd years I'd been a vampire. And now that I'd finally gotten free, I was going to be killed.

Christ. Cheerful as always, Brewley. Good job.

"Don't worry, no one's going to kill you." A chirpy female voice chimed from right in front of me, making me flinch and fall back on my arse with a hiss. 

I'd been too distracted by both the bone-deep exhaustion of overusing my powers and my thoughts that I hadn't even seen her move from the pack before she was right there.

I looked up at the petite woman with short brown hair and bright golden eyes (which I vaguely recognised as a sign of drinking animal blood instead of humans) with a button nose and high cheekbones that made her look somewhat elfish. 

She smiled down at me sadly, like she knew how much pain I had been through but knew there was still more suffering come my way. It was an odd understanding that unsettled me a little and I tried not to look at her directly after that.

"Alice!" Copperhead hissed, glaring at me from between her shins.

"No, she's right, Edward. We can't just end his life like that, especially if what you told me is true. We should be helping him." 'Carlisle' interjected with a hint of steel behind his voice that instantly made 'Edward' back down - though he didn't look happy about it in the least.

I didn't know what his problem with me was - it seemed to be  _ way  _ more personal than just the potential threat my presence posed to the coven. Did he...  _ like  _ Dimitri? 

I couldn't imagine anyone genuinely liking the bastard, but I didn't know them and had never met them before so I don't know what else it could be. But it also didn't look like Dimitri had been very partial to them - but when was he ever?

My musing was interrupted by Edward opening his mouth to no doubt protest, again. 

Honestly I was a little fed up, what with this unjustified vilification of myself and the stress of whether this would be my last sunrise and how the pixie girl was still too close for comfort and the other blond guy that looked like he was in pain just standing there in the back of the group was a little irksome. 

It was a lot, especially after just having killed one of my longtime torturers.

"But the Volturi--"

"Would probably come after you anyway just because you're witnesses. Killing me - while the merciful thing to do if I  _ am  _ to go back to that shithole - would only make the fucker angry and probably get you all killed." I interrupted matter-of-factly, self-consciously crossing my arms when all their attention snapped back to me as 'Alice' moved out of the way. 

I stayed sitting, both because I didn't think I could get back up without help - I was starving, after all - and because they were discussing my fate. I thought it only appropriate that I stay in a vulnerable position. I wanted to be somewhat comfortable if this really is my end. 

Then the oddest thing happened, one of the females - another blonde but her hair was almost white and it trailed loosely down her back - squealed in what I thought was excitement.

"Oh my god! He has a british accent!" She screeched in delight, though thankfully stayed on her side of the fence, even as the sound made me hunch down a bit in my paltry t-shirt. 

The jeans I were wearing had some holes and scratches in them now but at least they weren't shredded. I've never liked loud noises, not since I was a human kid. It's just now my hearing is (inconveniently) tripled in strength and range.

"Uh...wrong direction, love. Think a little warmer…" I paused, flicking my eyes from her enraptured face to the scuffed ballet flats she was wearing. If she were human, her toes would have fallen off by now.

"Actually, a  _ lot  _ warmer." I mumbled, feeling hot with all their stares no doubt noticing the scars on my skin now that I had drawn attention to myself. 

Apart from the one on my neck, the others weren't as eye-catching at first glance. Humans probably wouldn't be able to see most of them with their murky vision.

"Australia?" A strained male voice asked and I looked up to see the other blond male had stepped forward, a sense of wary curiosity flitting across his face before it was gone, back to pained. 

I wondered what was wrong, whether it was a semi-passive sensing ability or he was just really into rocking that chiselled tortured look. Instead of poking a potentially sore spot, I just nodded and went back to watching the snow-covered ground.

"Can we  _ please  _ get back on track here?" I scrunched my nose a bit at the whiny/petulant quality to Edward's voice but didn't look up. 

I was somewhat resigned to whatever fate they felt like dishing out - whether it was to save me or end me--or neither and I could just go back to my original plan of emulating smoke in the wind for the rest of my lonely non-existence…

Wait.

Did...did I want to go with them? I had thought it before of course, but it had been a fleeting wistful notion that I thought would never happen.

"Carlisle, you can't be serious!" My head snapped up to watch the two have a silent conversation, copperhead getting more and more aggravated the longer the blond glared resolutely at him.

"Carmen, darling, thank you for the holiday but I think it's time we head home." Carlisle said jovially as he turned to one of the blond females. She responded in kind, quickly taking that as her coven's cue to leave - possibly with plausible deniability still intact - and then the man turned to me with those same soulful kind eyes.

I wanted to believe their owner wouldn't be able to kill someone - but unfortunately I knew more than anyone how much of themselves people can hide behind a mask.

"Charlie, was it?" I nodded, struggling to keep focussed with how weak I felt. He smiled at me and took a few measured steps forward, stopping when I tensed.

"Charlie, my coven would like to offer you asylum in this difficult time, will you let us help you?" He asked, as if giving me an actual choice. I blinked at him, then surveyed the rest of the coven - who all ranged from mildly put out to outright against the idea. It would be an awkward, potentially hostile environment I would be walking into - but if it would raise my chances of survival, I already knew what my answer was.

Edward groaned in dismay. I ignored him and dipped my head in submission.

"Thank you, Sir."


End file.
